Brendan Kelly

The Coach is sporting his Boston Bruins tie

So what to think of Don Cherry appearing on Coach’s Corner tonight sporting a Boston Bruins tie and decked out in glaring Bruins yellow?

Well first off, it hurt my eyes. But that’s par for the course for the fashion-victim that is Grapes.

Now the defenders are going to say it’s all in good fun, that it’s part of the Don Cherry Act. He’s famous as the Bruins coach who got a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty that resulted in the Habs eliminating his beloved Bs. So his whole routine is built around the notion that he’s the guy who adores the big bad Bruins and hates the Habs.

So we should just enjoy the comedy.

Me I’m not laughing. There’s only one Canadian team in the playoffs and, sadly for Cherry, it’s the team he’s made a career of not liking, the Montreal Canadiens. Worse still, for him, this Boston-Montreal series is coming right at him and Hockey Night in Canada like a runaway freight-train and if there are any smart minds at CBC HQ, surely they’re thinking this has potential for the sort of disaster that will make Ron MacLean’s don’t-use-franco-refs-in-Montreal comments seem like a tempest in a teapot.

The most influential hockey commentator in Canada – and the most famous star on the CBC roster – can’t possibly be objective in this series. He’s wearing a Bruins tie tonight for heaven’s sake.

So how long til controversy strikes? Just asking. To recap. There’s one Canadian team in the playoffs, the main broadcaster of hockey in Canada (for the moment) is CBC – a public broadcaster, I might add – and their star guy is already openly pulling for the Bruins. Hmmm that’s a little odd, don’t you think. You’re right, it is hilarious.

I have an idea. Why doesn’t Peter Mansbridge wear a Liberal Party red Justin Trudeau tie on The National tonight? It’d be a knee-slapper.